1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates primarily to interlocking hooks. More particularly, the present invention relates to interlocking hooks for elastic members (bungee cords) and rigid tie down straps.
2. General Background of the Invention
Elastic cord hooks are manufactured in a variety of different designs of which there are two basic designs, open hook and closed/gated hook (hooks with gates to form a closure). The open hook designs are difficult to store and transport when not in use because the hooks naturally engage upon other objects and become easily entangled especially when several or more elastic cords and/or rigid straps are grouped together. The closed or gated hook style utilized in elastic cords attempts to solve the entanglement problem by providing a hook with a spring loaded gate that is closed when the hook is not in use. However, the spring loaded gate creates difficulty for the user while hooking and unhooking the elastic cord hook due to interference of the gate in the hook area. Additionally, the gate opens inward into the hook area limiting the available hook area that would otherwise be available if the gate were not present.
See U.S. Pat. Nos. D92,798; D325,546; D329,371; D330669; D307,705; D345,297; D410,378; D546,169; D559,103S; 2,447,422; 4,957,259; 5,003,672; 5,224,247; 6,886,796; 7,228,600; 7,603,754; Publication No. 2006/0237609; Publication No. 2007/0067968; Publication No. 2007/0284326; and EP 1,717,482A2 and all references cited therein for a background of the invention. All of these references are incorporated herein by reference.
Attempts to solve the problem with elastic cord storage are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,003,672; D559,103; 6,886,796 and Publication No. 2007/0284326 and outline methods in which the elastic cord hook can be covered by a slide-able cover or by means of hooking the elastic cord to a secondary housing, pallet or frame member to prevent entanglement of the elastic cord hooks during storage and transportation. Other attempts to solve the problem with elastic cord storage and transportation are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. D307,705; D329,371; D330,669; D625,988 and 7,228,600 and outline methods in which elastic cord hooks are provided with closing gates which are used to disable the hooks when not in use.
An attempt to provide an elastic cord hook which can be connected end-to-end is described in US Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0067968 wherein the hook is provided with “a receptacle formed in the hook portion for receiving a mating portion of another bungee cord fastener”.
One can see a disclosure (concept drawing) of a concept bungee cord with hooks that can be interlocked on a website called Qurky.com (http://www.quirky.com/ideations/64999), which describes itself as a social product development company, where inventors submit their product ideas to an online community that works on them to refine and develop the idea. It appears that this disclosure appeared on the internet around 9 May 2011.